Dreams

I’d love to have you join me in the God-sized Dreams book club on Breaking Busy I’m leading this spring. Here’s a peek into today’s study:

How can finding our calling help us break busy? It doesn’t eliminate busy. But it does help us choose wisely what keeps us busy. Instead of pleasing others and filling a void, we become “busy with a purpose” which energizes and keeps us focused on what’s really important.

I have learned that God plants gifts in us and provides opportunities throughout our lives to fulfill our life’s purpose. But we have to break the cycle of busy in our lives if we are going to have enough room to discover God’s plan – our destiny. p. 67, chapter 3

To jumpstart your assessment of where your calling lies, if you don’t already know, Alli offers some great questions to ask yourself:

As many of you know, I write for God-sized Dreams and this spring I am leading the book club on Alli Worthington’s Breaking Busy!

I had the pleasure of serving on the launch team and reading this book over the holidays and gained so much insight for my busy life.

I would love for you all to follow along in the study – I’ll post links here every Thursday if you’d like to read the book with us.

Here’s a snippet from my discussion about Chapter 1…

Most of the time, I can’t envision what capacity is because I’m so far over it. Alli quotes to a study on p.21 which found women, especially those ages 30 to 60, reported being busier than men and were sacrificing sleep, recreation, hobbies, friends, and families! Yikes.

Because of the seasons in our lives (think care for kids, parents, or spouse, a new work assignment, a relocation, illness, etc.) we have to recognize we can’t always function at the same capacity. Alli helps us identify when we may be firing well over capacity. Some of the warning signs include:

The inability to control your emotion: Have you ever snapped or burst into tears when the circumstances didn’t warrant it? I’ve nearly fallen apart at a pass the ketchup simply because I couldn’t do one more thing.

Lack of self care: Even those of us that know how to eat right and get enough rest can find all that slipping away when we’re munching on a bag of chips at midnight to meet that deadline. We’ve got to take care of ourselves so we can continue to function effectively.

Self medicating/excess: Boy did this one hit close to home. In the busiest and most stressful of seasons, I reach for a cupcake or glass of wine instead of identifying the cause of my stress and restructuring. This is dangerous if you don’t reset before it becomes unhealthy or an addiction.

Won’t you join me for the rest of the insight from Breaking Busy over at God-sized Dreams?

We started out talking about work. Lots of big changes and challenging career relationships made things harder than ever. He just left. Wanted to reinvent himself. What do Christmas cards look like now? I thought I’d achieved my dreams, now what?

Dreams are unique and personal.

But we don’t achieve them alone. We can’t.

And when one of your pillars crumbles, or the foundation has cracked down the middle, you find yourself sitting in the rubble.

What do you do when you, or those closest to you, are crushed? When you feel like your future has been stolen?

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

There are no easy answers. There are no quick repairs…

I’m writing today over at God-sized Dreams, won’t you join me for the rest of the conversation?

Much of the research done about successful leaders focuses on their ability to take risks (or opportunities, as they truly are!). It turns out, their set point for risk taking is often no different from yours or mine. The best leaders (and dreamers) have just learned how to frame the opportunity.

Effective leaders look at the upside of the “risk” – the people they will meet or the growth it will open up for the company or the lives they can improve or the chance to do something never done before. They don’t ignore the possible bad outcomes, but they don’t focus on them…

To read the rest, join me over at God-sized Dreams today where I’m writing about what God really wants for His dreamers..

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Come on in. I have a reservation just for you. I know life is busy. I would love for us to step out for a relaxing lunch but schedules don't always allow. So let's pop open that salad or sandwich sitting in front of our computers, and we'll have lunch right here. A few minutes is all we need to connect to community.